Category: Compact Executive 
Price Range: £19,672 to £52,675
Robust quality, reliability, good secondary safety, comfort.
Value for money, equipment levels, high servicing costs, awkward parking brake.
Good, but a bit stodgy - lacks all-round excellence of 3-Series, liveliness of Alfa 156.
High marks here - the C-Class is a very relaxed and secure motorway cruiser, and has better ride quality than most in the class. The seats are well shaped, and it's quiet too. There's plentiful space front and rear - tall drivers will appreciate the rearwards travel of the driver's seat - and the boot is commodious too. Oddments space inside is average. Mercedes has finally deigned to fit a stereo as standard, but predictably, there's no CD player, although you do get the RDS traffic news facility.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mercedes C-Class
wrote on 14 11 2006